Ely: Fall 2014

Ely is one of the most prolific Adopt a College leafleters of the fall 2014 semester: he traveled to 17 different schools, directly handing Vegan Outreach booklets to more than 10,000 students!

In October, Ely teamed with VO’s Southeast Outreach Coordinator, Yuri Mitzkewich, and together they reached 2,000 students in a single day at the University of North Florida:

Another solid visit today for Team VO FL! Got a very friendly reception from the UNF students we met here throughout the day. The take rate was decent, and as the day progressed, the number of students stopping to talk increased steadily. Between me and Ely, we talked the issues over with nearly two dozen curious students over the course of the day.

Among the highlights for me was meeting Mike [above, right] – two years back he’d gone vegetarian to vegan from receiving a leaflet here! Today he’s a musician playing in hardcore punk band No Restraint, who spread the vegan message through their music.

Also super cool was meeting freshman Jackie, member of the UNF vegetarians/vegans club. She got super excited seeing we were on campus spreading the message. We exchanged contact info and she said she’d contact her fellow group members to come out and help leaflet in the spring. She was the first to offer her help, then three more people we talked to ended up wanting to get involved too!

Ely also scored some great conversations; even a few times following interested students, walking with them while talking, so they wouldn’t be late for class. Towards the end of the day, Ely blew me away, doing something I’d never in a million years thought I’d get to see. Handing off to student Zheng Huo [with Ely, above, left], he got her into an extended conversation on everything covered in the Your Choice by switching the discussion over to Mandarin Chinese! So great hearing them get into it; she had questions for him on everything from dairy to the killing of male chicks, to protein, to milk and other dairy and meat substitutes. By her reaction walking off, there was no doubt she was changing her eating habits drastically from their meeting today. More amazing work coming from this awesome new volunteer of ours!

—Yuri Mitzkewich, 10/22/14